Photo: halifaxfman · CC BY 3.0Flood mapping exists for Cumberland County, Subdivision D: 3 on record, latest by Province of Nova Scotia
Little of the land around Cumberland County, Subdivision D has burned: 0% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.001% a year. Seismic risk in Cumberland County, Subdivision D sits near the middle: $0.020 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 13% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Cumberland County, Subdivision D a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Cumberland County, Subdivision D’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Cumberland County, Subdivision D: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Cumberland County, Subdivision D faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cumberland County, Subdivision D grades C+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Cumberland County, Subdivision D’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #82 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,775 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Cumberland County, Subdivision D: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Cumberland County, Subdivision D’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Cumberland County, Subdivision D fire takes 0.001% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
70% of the land within 5 km of Cumberland County, Subdivision D is forest fuel, close to the 66% within 25 km.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Nova Scotia · highest of 90
Some fire is mapped around Cumberland County, Subdivision D (0.001% a year), but it ranks only 69th of 90 towns in Nova Scotia; Barrington has 0.46%.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Cumberland County, Subdivision D among them, though its rate is above zero; 7.5% rank higher.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
Cumberland County, Subdivision D is on the flood map inventory: 3 studies, latest by Province of Nova Scotia
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Cumberland County, Subdivision D: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Cumberland County, Subdivision D the inventory points to 3 studies, most recently Province of Nova Scotia’s in 2025.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northumberland Shore Region | Province of Nova Scotia | 2025 | final · not public |
| Northumberland Region | Nova Scotia Department of Municipal Affairs | 2025 | under review · not public |
| Nova Scotia Flood Mapping Minas Basin Area | Province of Nova Scotia | 2024 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Nova Scotia: 88% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Cumberland County, Subdivision D is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Cumberland County, Subdivision D.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Cumberland County, Subdivision D $0.020 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Cumberland County, Subdivision D, $0.020 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Cumberland County, Subdivision D’s $0.020 is close to the median in Nova Scotia, $0.018; Clare is highest at $0.034.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Middle of the pack: 64% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Cumberland County, Subdivision D.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
The model counts damage to Cumberland County, Subdivision D’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs high around Cumberland County, Subdivision D: 13% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Cumberland County, Subdivision D’s area, at 13%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. Nobody publishes radon tests for Cumberland County, Subdivision D alone, so this card uses the figure for the Zone 3 health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Cumberland County, Subdivision D, 13% of tests topped the guideline, close to the typical town in Nova Scotia (13%); 3.1% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Cumberland County, Subdivision D is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are higher.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
The survey sampled homes around Cumberland County, Subdivision D; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Cumberland County, Subdivision D
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Cumberland County, Subdivision D; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Cumberland County, Subdivision D come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Cumberland County, Subdivision D faces
What to do about the hazards Cumberland County, Subdivision D faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Cumberland County, Subdivision D’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Cumberland County, Subdivision D.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Cumberland County, Subdivision D’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Cumberland County, Subdivision D is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cumberland County, Subdivision D
Is radon a problem in Cumberland County, Subdivision D?
Around Cumberland County, Subdivision D, 96 survey homes were tested and 13% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Cumberland County, Subdivision D flood?
There is flood mapping for Cumberland County, Subdivision D on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Cumberland County, Subdivision D at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Cumberland County, Subdivision D since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cumberland County, Subdivision D?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Cumberland County, Subdivision D’s buildings lose $0.020 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Cumberland County, Subdivision D’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cumberland County, Subdivision D’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).